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Hitman: Blood Money
Hitman: Blood Money is a stealth game developed by IO Interactive, published by Eidos Interactive and directed by Rasmus Højengaard. It is the fourth entry in the Hitman game series and was released on May 26, 2006 in Europe and on May 30, 2006 in the United States for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles and the Microsoft Windows operating system. A Mobile Phone version under the same name was also released but with drastically different gameplay, graphics and overall style. The story follows the life of professional hitman, Agent 47, as narrated in cutscenes by a former director of the FBI to a journalist who is interviewing him. The wheelchair-bound ex-director recounts how his agency tracked 47 over a two-year period. The game also marks 47's arrival to the United States, and differs from the original three in that several contracts are carried out in civilian areas, as opposed to the "covert ops" settings of ''Codename 47'', ''Silent Assassin'', and Contracts. A sequel has been confirmed to be in the works by Eidos Interactive. Game Storyline The game begins with a flashback at an abandoned Baltimore, Maryland amusement park, where many people were killed in an accident caused by negligent maintenance of a Ferris wheel. The father of one of the victims calls the Agency and orders a hit on the park owner, Joseph Clarence, who was cleared of all charges. 47 carries out the hit; following that assignment, he receives a string of contracts from American clients eager to hire the legendary hitman. The bulk of the game takes place as flashback sequences that occur concordant to the present day (2006), in which a journalist and the former FBI Director, "Jack" Alexander Leland Cayne, discuss 47's hits over the past two years (2004–2005) and his involvement in them. The reporter, Rick Henderson, arranged to interview Cayne concerning a recent attack on the White House. It quickly becomes clear that Cayne's real intent is to discuss 47. Cayne lies about many details, such as stating that 47 stole cloning data from Ort-Meyer to sell to the highest bidder. As the story progresses, it is implied that the Agency's employees are being systematically eliminated by two albino clones, Mark Puriyah II and Mark Parchezzi III dispatched by a western counterpart to the Agency called "The Franchise". The situation degrades to the point where 47's controller Diana Burnwood informs him that they are the only ones left. An attempt is even made on 47's life in Paris, almost killing him (prompting the events of Hitman: Contracts). In 2004, at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, 47 is able to kill Mark II and two other Franchise assassins. Diana closes down the Agency with a final contract to kill the assassins coming after them and splits the remaining funds between them. After the assignment, 47 is approached by an old acquaintance, a CIA agent named Smith, who 47 had rescued from a rehabilitation clinic earlier in the game via a serum that imitates the symptoms of death. He approaches 47 with a high-profile mission, paid for using several million dollars worth of diamonds, to prevent an assassination on the President of the United States, Tom Stewart. The assassins are "The Franchise's" clone assassin, Mark Parchezzi III, and the Vice President, Daniel Morris, both working for Alpha Xerox, the shadowy political organization which owns The Franchise and is dedicated to monopolizing the cloning technology that spawned 47. They intend to assassinate the President before the elections so he may not be re-elected and forward his pro-cloning stance, thereby disabling their ability to monopolize it; "The Franchise" and its controlling parent stand to lose their military edge. 47 successfully eliminates Morris then Parchezzi in the White House. A newspaper article at the end of the level shows that Parchezzi is believed to be Morris' assassin. Hunted by both enemy operatives and the police, 47 flees to his hideout. Without warning, he is visited by Diana, immediately arousing his suspicion. Diana proposes a plan to 47 to help them both escape danger from "The Franchise". As 47 mulls over the briefing she hands him, expressing his misgivings as to the likelihood of its success, Diana injects him with what seems to be a poison syringe. 47's body is surrounded by SWAT officers, and Diana, announcing that killing 47 was "surprisingly pleasant", is formally inducted into "The Franchise" by Alexander Leland Cayne, its founder. The story at this point shifts to the present day; 47 is scheduled for cremation so his bone marrow cannot be harnessed by cloning rivals, forever destroying anyone else's chance of producing a non-defective clone. Diana drapes 47's custom Silverballers over his chest during his hasty funeral and kisses him after applying lipstick. It becomes apparent that the "poison" she injected was actually the fake-death serum 47 had used in an earlier mission. Diana's lipstick contains the antidote in it, implying she was actually 'killing' 47 for their survival. The funeral begins and the story then concludes in one of two different ways. In the first, it is presumed the antidote fails to work, and 47 descends into the crematorium. In the second, canonical ending the antidote is successful and 47 awakens. 47 kills everyone, including Cayne's personal guards, the priest, Rick Henderson and Cayne himself (Diana had already fled), leaving no witnesses and ultimately securing 47's identity from the public. Sometime after the funeral bloodbath, Diana uses The Franchise's assets to reopen the International Contract Agency, which overlooks the Copenhagen harbor. She receives a call from a client referred to as "Your Majesty". The voice cannot be heard, but Diana replies that the Agency has lost track of 47. Meanwhile, 47 is seen at a business engaging in conversation with a traditionally-dressed Chinese man. They discuss a service that can be found 'in the back'. The story ends on the curtain literally closing on the two. Gameplay Many new features were introduced to Hitman: Blood Money. These include the capability to climb through more obstacles, improved unarmed combat, the ability to use an NPC as a human shield, improved character animations (face, eyes, etc.), a new game engine and the ability to upgrade weapons and equipment. However, only five of the featured weapons in the game, as well as assorted pieces of equipment such as bombs and armor, can be upgraded. Every level contains some sort of method to make the target's death look like an accident; for example, tampering with someone's grill to make it explode when it is turned on, rigging a chandelier to fall on a target, or simply pushing the target off a balcony ledge. There are also improvised weapons, such as nail-guns, a child's air rifle, kitchen knives, screwdrivers, stilettos, cane swords, fire extinguishers, and a pair of hedge clippers. A gameplay feature new to the Hitman series was also added, the "Notoriety" system. If the player, during a mission, gets caught on CCTV or is witnessed committing murder, Agent 47's notoriety will rise. Conversely, if the player executes the mission perfectly with none of the aforementioned events occurring, 47's notoriety will be minimal. The higher Agent 47's notoriety is, the easier it will be for NPCs to identify him. Players may use the bribery system to negate accumulated notoriety. Notoriety gained in early missions will affect later missions, but not vice-versa. Earlier missions in which 47 has gained notoriety in can be replayed in order to attempt to reduce notoriety in later missions. The notoriety system is not enabled on "Rookie" mode, the easiest difficulty setting. At the end of each mission, a newspaper article is displayed regarding the hit, in which the content varies depending on the investigation results and the player's notoriety. It will detail the weapon most frequently used, how accurately it was used, the number of police, security, and civilians killed or injured, and if there were any witnesses. Any injured people will be counted as witnesses, who affect your notoriety. Sketch drawings are also sometimes visible of Agent 47's face, which grow progressively more accurate as 47's notoriety grows. The newspaper itself rebukes the player for making too much noise by announcing on the headline how many people were killed in total, whereas executing your target without any problems will simply have you as 'wanted by police'. The article's title relates to the player's mission rating. "Silent Assassin", in which you assassinate the targets as cleanly and quietly as possible, and draw no unnecessary attention to yourself (blow your cover, leave no extra bodies, etc.), is the best rating possible on all missions. Blood Money also improved the melee weapons system, allowing the player to lethally throw certain weapons at NPCs (i.e. kitchen knives, stilettos, etc.) Once thrown into anybody, however, the weapon cannot be retrieved. There is an exception for the hammer, which can be retrieved even though thrown into a victim. Also note that unlike previous games, melee weapons cannot be transferred to the player's armoury. Blood Money introduced the concept of rival assassins to the storyline The developers created the Mark Parchezzi character as a sort of foil to Agent 47, for he is "everything Parchezzi is not." The other "lesser" assassins were there to prove more able adversaries than "drug dealers or similar adversaries." Controversy Despite the fact Blood Money has been said to be the most violent game of the series yet, the magazine ads for the game generated more controversy than the title which spawned them. The ad that drew the most attention and protest depicted a woman lying on a bed in lingerie, seemingly asleep but with a bullet hole in her forehead. The caption above the picture read: "Beautifully Executed", a pun regarding the woman's appearance and her fate. Other ads were "Classically Executed", featuring a cellist with a slit throat, "Coldly Executed",http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman:_Blood_Money#cite_note-11showing a man in a freezer, and "Shockingly Executed", depicting a woman in a bath who has been electrocuted by a toaster. Reception Blood Money received generally favorable reviews upon release, with an average critic score of 83% for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman:_Blood_Money#cite_note-19versions and 82% for the Xboxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman:_Blood_Money#cite_note-20and PC at Game Rankings. Many critics felt the game was an improvement over the previous Hitman titles, with Official PlayStation Magazine UK calling it "without question the best Hitman yet". Other critics shared this thought, despite feeling that the basic gameplay elements were similar, if not unchanged from the previous installments, with GameSpot stating that "the underlying stealth action is mostly unchanged" while "a diverse sequence of imaginative scenarios gives Blood Money its own fair share of violent thrills." GameSpy praised the expanded scope and options in each level, such as making kills appear as accidents, that "the game features enough choices and entertaining kills to have you playing some missions more than once, striving for that exclusive Silent Assassin rating." The soundtrack was also considered one of the game's strong points, with IGN noted the "impressive orchestral compositions",http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman:_Blood_Money#cite_note-ign-15while Game Trailers felt it "drives your emotions throughout each evolving mission" and was even nominated for Best Original Music in GameSpot's Best and Worst Awards 2006. While new features and additions to the series were praised, some critics felt the Notoriety system was "underutilized" and "half-baked" while others pointed issues from the previous Hitman games still being present, notably with the AI. Game Trailers found that "some enemies behave erratically in specific situations taking you out of the experience". TeamXbox said they couldn't "really see any more alertness or cleverness on the part of the CPU than in Hitman Contracts". Trivia *The mission Curtians Down, happens right before the events of Hitman: Contracts. *This is the first game in which the player can turn the camera and see Agent 47's face. *This is the first game where not all the guns found in missions can be taken back to the training level. Notable guns are the Mauser C96, Custom 1911 and the cut fully functioning Mark III rifle. External Links *Hitman: Blood Money